Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938 Page: 52 of 264
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g TWENTY-ETGHT—SECTION A
AMARIUjO SUNDAY WEWB AND OLOBB. AMAJULLO. TEXAS
OOIJWJ ANNIVERSARY KPTTION. 1938.
Some Notes on the Geology of Potter County
By FOY RIDDLE
Much" of the Information con-
tained in the following treatise was
gleaned from the work of I*roy T.
patton, who made a geologic sur-
vey of Potter County through the
fail and winter of 1922, and who
published the first such account
devoted exclusively to the county.
Other pertinent facts were R&'h-
ered from a phamphlet on Texas
eeoloclc past which was Issued in
1938 bv the Humble Oil Refining | spread out from their base and
Co To both, the writer and this deposited a vast apron of debris
newspaper acknowledge their in- over what Is called the Great Plains,
debtedne.ss, with sincere thanks. extending through the western part
of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and
Two hundred and fifty million Nebraska. Potter County lies
years ago, according to the geoolo- . within the latter subdivision, but
.. .— 4 small portions of the south and
nortn sections of the county are
called the Llano Fstacado and the
Panhandle High Plains. The Llano
Estacado begins south of the Cana-
What of the sea shells, coral,
and other shell life that have been
found in this region, particularly
In the direction of that portion
of New Mexico which once rested
beneath the water?
• • •
How did the mountains that en-
closed the sea get covered up, you
ask? According to the geologists,
the glaciers that traversed the east-
ern edge of the Rocky Mountains
gists, had there been any Amanllo
)t would have been a seaport. Fur-
thermore, it would have rested at
the base of some mountains, which
geologists today call the Amarillo
Mountains, and about which oil well
drillers of the Panhandle know.
They've stuck drilling hits right
•mack into 'em, and they'll tell you
that they're hard as granite, which
Indeed they are.
There are many conflicting theor-
ies about the sea on whose shores
Amarillo might have been, and es-
pecially is that true of the chain
of mountains supposed to have en-
circled most of that body of water,
of which the Amarillo group Is said [
to be a part. Regardless, there is
very definite evidence that tile sea |
was here, receding after so many
million years, only to rpappear
again and again. Each time It
tems. Th Cenezolo period was
marked by a rapid evolution In
animals, birds, trees, shrubs, grasses
and flowers. There was very little
change ).n the Invertebrates, how-
ever.
In the Cenezoic era some strati-
fied sand and gravel were laid down
in the county, and then came the
glaciers, depositing alluvium. On
tap of this lies dune sand, likely
blown In.
• « •
Many formations bear local
names, given them by the geologists
in order that they may be more eas-
ily classified. Some of these are Te-
covas, from Tecovas Creek, the out-
crops of which are confined prin-
cipally to the western part of the
county. Fossilized wood is found in
the Tecovas formation. The Te-
covas belongs to the Triassic system,
as dofs the Trujillo, from Trujlllo
In Pot-
five ledges of sandstones with Inter-
bedded shales.
In the Tertiary system Mr. Pat-
ton's geologic map of the county
discloses the Potter and Coetas,
from Coetas Creek, formations. The
Potter underlies the coetas, which
contains quite a few fossils of the
Pliocene (comparatively recent)
age. Coarsely stratified and partly
consolidated sand and gravel char-
acterize the Potter formation. Some
geologists have classified these
strata as mortar beds because of
their resemblance to the artificial
product.
• * •
The alluvium of the Canadian
River and its tributaries Is composed
almost entirely of sand. Tecovas
Creek Is an exception; most of Its
alluvium Is gathered from the
shales over which it flows.
Thus we get bark to the surface
again. However, let's take a hasty
dip back into our diggings and ob-
dian River, the High Plains north. fre^ in Oldham County. —
ThP most outstandine tonocraoh- County the Trujillo formation Is serve one or two other formations
Z "n,,n"vTthe ! "hid. be noted here.
Excellent proof that the ancient
sea surged up to our doorstep and
possibly crept over the sill, is found
ical feature of the county is the st-,0ne and conglomerate from 10 to;
Canadian River and its valley. 2o feet thick, but other places in the
Traveling leisurely in a car, cover- ; panhandle it consists of three to
ing the county from north to south, j
the true picture of its topography
is likely to escape you. Potter A aiKk \|i>><
County is almost entirely a valley /"Villi? lT.fi.ctll
for the Canadian, although you are
inclined to regard only the canyon
through which it flows as such.
Yet. between the southern escarp-
ment and the northern rimrock, a
distance of 25 miles,
the stream in the
part of the county, the descent is
,. „ ,,,. approximately 800 feet
changed its shoreline, often engulf- , ^ L)ano Estacaclo Rnd the Pan. , sary
Bob Cruoginglon, autos, 201 Fill-
more Street,, was established Febru-
ary 1, 1931, but Bob Crudgington,
a resident of Amarillo since May
to the bed of j of 1904. has been in the automobile
north central j business i6 years.
The first of this month Bob Crud-
gington celebrated his own anniver-
... . . . , . me .uiiiiju mm n.c i - ioih.y. He was born August 1, 1899.
!T_g. I handle High Plains, as Mr Patton at Breckeniidge.
has observed, Rre comparatively in i Only three years old when the
their extreme youth, and their Crudgington family came to this
drainage lines have not yet been city, Bob is one of Amarlllo's
developed. . . "They have only an younger generation of pioneers,
underground drainage, the water , Firmly established here, the auto-
which falls on the surface sinking ! mobile agency head never expects
Into the ground until it encounters 10 leave Amarillo.
dry before, other times leaving ex-
posed great areas of its former bed.
There was none of the life here
that we know today, neither.plant
nor mammal. Only primitive am-
phibians and reptiles. They fed on
a vegetation that covered the Ama-
rillo Mountains and the surround-
ing terrain, which, the geologists
say. had good rainfall at that time.
Some hundred million years later,
when the sea had left our doors
never to return, plant life began i t'ons.
an impervious stratum and being j When Bob Crudgington estab-
conducted by this stratum to the "shed the business there were only
scarps of the plain where it feeds ! three employes and the first year
the springs found in such loca-
Only a small part of the
to shape up much as we know it
today. Reeds and flowering plants
covered the swampy fields, and
many trees had made their ap-
pearance. Dinosaurs roamed the
swamps; sea serpents swarmed in
the lagoons and lakes. Reptilian-
like birds with teeth screamed as ;
county, he adds, has a drainage of
this sort. The greater portion is
controlled by the Canadian.
Potter County is counted a rich
field by geologists because of the
numerous canyons where so many
formations are exposed. Its sur
volume was approximately $18,000.
But now there are more than
twice as many employes at Bob
Crudgington, autos, and the volume
is more than four times as great,
based on last year's figures.
Besides selling motor cars, the
business at 201 Fillmore Street also
includes garage and all the service
in an examination of borings from
various oil and gas wells within the
county. These have revealed the
presence of potash in the thick salt
beds of the Permian basin, varying
in amount from .027 to 9.23 per
cent of the soluble portion. The
process by which potash is evolved
is somewhat complicated and we
can't go into it here, but suffice it
to say that potash is one of the last
salts to be precipitated by m wa-
ter when it evaporates. So when
the sea vanished for good from this
region it left at least a little pot-
ash above its other soluble deposits.
If you should examine the out-
croppings along Tecovas Creek you
will observe a number of deposits
of slightly consolidated sand which
has been declared suitable for mak-
ing glass, perhaps not of the finer
variety but at least window glass
and for bottles. Some samples of
this sand were also examined and
found adaptable for molding pur-
poses—that is, in foundries where
iron and brass and other metal
castings are made.
The shales of Tecovas Creek pro-
duce clay for brick, and all over
the county are to be found
abundant gravel deposits, caliche
and other formations suitable for
•l I that goes with such line that has i pa,V/Vn<1 hards"rfacln8 r0®ds- ..
- 1 We have passed over considerably
more than two hundred million
they circled overhead, and r few i face rocks belong to the Permian. Ciuch sUH flourished5when^h^nfn'
weak mammals cowered in the un- : Triassic, Tertiary and Quarternary prietor fjrst arrived In Amarilln
derbrush. It still was an unpleasant ! systems. Permian means the era j crudgington is the son' f
place in which to live; man hadn't when land areas were enlarged and < Mrs j w crudgington and the late
yet put In his appearance. | mountains formed, and when the j Jl|dge crudgington and a nenhew
amphibians declined and primitive of thp jplp Srnatnr John v '
reptiles appeared. The rocks not j Bnb crudgington, autos has the
exposed belong, for the most part, -- ■ -
to the Permian system. The Permi-
an strata lie at the hottom of the
formations studied in Potter County,
as in all of West Texas. From
this system the great Permian oil
j basin gets its name.
Almost another hundred millions
years passed, and as many a bored
young sophisticate of today has been
heard to observe of our time, nothing
much happened. The Gulf of Mex-
ico surged forward and then re-
treated; the northwest section of
Texas rose higher and higher. The
dinosaurs and winged reptiles lay
I Nash-Lafayette agency.
Developer
years, and now we are drawing back
to the surface of our land the tiny
creatures that existed in such great
numbers in our old swamps and la-
goons. the great dinosaurs that
roamed our ancient prairies—all the
varied and wierd group of mam-
mals reptiles and birds that existed
beside our lost shores. Only this
No. 8 Was Busy Phone
By FRED P06T
"Call No. 8!"
Remember back In the days be-
fore dial telephones? When any-
body in the then village of Ama-
rillo wanted to know the answer of
any question from "Where's the
fire?" to "Who had a new baby!"
it was "Call No. 8."
No. 8 was the McKnight Transfer
Company, and its information bu-
reau started through the courtesy of
teiling inquirers the tlrfie of day
or "anything," as the McKnight ad
read.
Amarillo early in 1900 began to
know a lot of things, including the
kind of material to be used In the
telephone system and how high the
wires would be from the ground.
Wayne Wright got the first fran-
chise, granted February 15, 1900,
but by A pail 28, 1900, he forfeited
his right, having relinquished all
interest, and John B. Sisk was be-
fore the council for a telephone
franchise. Mr. Sisk got one May 23,
1900.
About three years later Joe Mur-
phy wa.s given permission to connect
seven Amarillo businesses—Nobles
Brothers Grocery Company, Smith-
7 -/
wmm.W
for residence 'phone*. The ordin-
ance also gave the telephone com-
pany the right to increase the ratea
when 1,500 telephones were in op-
eration.
Remember those first telephones!
They looked like an old-fashioned
coffee grinder that had been
stream-lined. The boxes were of
quarter-sawed oak.
J. E. Nunn was operating a sys-
tem when Mr. Davenport, also still
a resident of Amarillo, had his new
plant ready to operate and about 10
days before he bought the Nunn
plant.
In 1914 Mr. Davenport, sold his
system to the Southwestern Bell.
It had been the Panhandle Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company be-
fore Southwestern Bell came into
the picture.
One of the early exchanges was
upstairs at the present site of Harry
Holland's store, Fifth and Polk.
Another telephone landmark dis-
appeared with the remodeling at
Sixth and Taylor, present location
of White's Auto Store.
Like all others, the telephone
company came in for its share of
Utility tilts with the city council and
the city commission. As early as
1912 the city council ordered the
telephone company to put its w«rrt
underground within the fire limit.s,
There were eoroplflints and con**
ferences, climaxed with Col. Ernest
O. Thompson's tilt, started In Aug*
ust of 1931. „
Back In May of 1916 the late
George Btapleton, who was recorder
at Masonic Temple at the time of
his death, was before the city com-
mission asking relief. He had ask"d
the telephone company to restrict
long distance calls over his 'phone
between 6 o'clock at night and 8 in
the morning, and since the request
he had been unable to make any
long distance calls at any time, he
complained.
The Southwestern Bell Telephone
Company spent a great deal of
money In Amarilln keeping pace
with the city's rapid growth, and
11 years ago this fail after opera-
tors had attended schools of In-
struction for weeks, the dial system
was inaugurated.
In recalling the old days, H. H.
Davenport said recently:
"A man by the name of Hager-
man had the first telephone system
in Amarillo and he later went to
Dalhart, where he had the only toll
line in that part of the country. The
new plant, which later was sold to
the Southwestern Bell, was com-
pleted in 1907."
Amarillo this year Is outranked
by only one other Texa-s city—Hous-
ton in the percentage increase of
telephones.
ASK US ANYTHING, said the McKnight Transfer
Company in its advertisement, and ding-a-ling! before
they knew it they were running a regular information
exchange.
listen to telephone propositions, an.1 iWalker & Company, Amarillo T.um-
the story is much the same as it ber Company, Stringfellow k Hume,
was with other utilities. Franchises Maddrev fy Kenyon, The First Na-
were granted by the wholesale in tlonal Bank and the Amarillo Na-
the beginning. I tional Bank with the telephone ex-
One of the first mentions of a change at Canyon. The poles were
telephone system for Amarillo, as four by four and 24 feet long,
revealed by the minutes of the city Early in June of 1907 H. H. Dav-
council, was January 26, 1900, when j enport and partners, of Hillsboro,
the municipal masters called a;and J. E. Nunn were competing for
meeting for the purpose of consid- a telephone franchise. The council
ering the proposition of Eugene favored Mr. Nunn but the matter
Thomas to put in a telephone ex-j later, June 27, 1907, was submitted
change. Wayne Wright also sub- to a vole at, a special election and
mitted a telephone proposition and the ballots were i!97 for H. H. Dav-
on February 1, 1900, Ween, Pot- enport and 68 for J. E. Nunn. So
tinger, Pettis and others of Wash- the Davenport franchise was auth-
burn asked the privilege of erect- orized.
time they're arriving as oil and gas. ing a telephone line into the city In June of 1908 an ordinance
Their return Is deserving of an- from Washburn. authorized H. H. Davenport A Com-
other story, and it is to be found j There were stirring sessions In pany to charge $3 a month for busl-
elsewhere in this issue. | which the city fathers wanted to'ness and office 'phones and $1.75
|N my 36 years in Amarillo I have seen it
grow from a small cowtown into a
modern city of 55,000 people . . . the
hub of a vast cattle, agricultural, dis-
tributing, industrial, oil and gas empire.
A fine city in which to live ... a city
of liberal opportunities, comfortable
homes, churches, hospitals, recreational
and educational facilities far above the
ordinary. It is assured of a future
steady, consistent growth.
J. E. GRIFFIN
PANHANDLE LANDS. CITY PROPERTY AND
INVESTMENTS . . . SINCE 1902
405'/j POLK STREET
My specially is business property and well located
trackage. Inquiries and listings will be appreciated.
submerged in vast clay and shale
beds. Dry land replaced the
swamps: prairies appeared; streams
began their work of erosion.
At last, man came to Texas, and
with him some of the animals we
recognize today. Geologists have
traced him bark a million or more
years in other parts of the world,
but. whatever the significance, they
don't think he got to Texas until
about 20 to 40 thousand years ago.
• • •
Tn the Palo Duro Canyon, if you
will scratch around and look close-
ly enough, you will see many in-
dications that, the sea once lapped
at our door. What of the limestone
and sandstone strata, which are to !
be found in many places, and which
the geologists say were deposited
by the sea? Unless there has been
some subterranean upheaval to 1
blast them into Irregular forma-
tions, they will be found to run an
almost level course, evidence of the
seq's gentle work. Even northeast
of Amarillo, where probably a great
many swamps and lagoons ran back :
for a few miles, is to be found to-
day a deposit of clay that, when
exposed to the sun and air, gradu-
ally forms a sort of limestone that
eventually resolves itself into a
very fine building stone. The First
Christian Church Educational
building wa.s constructed of it, and
the same material will be used In
the First, Christian Church when it
is erected. This deposit does not go
very deep, however, and in a good
many places it outcrops. It, varies in
thickness from one-eigt.h of an inch
to ten inches, and is stratified. The
stone that has already been used,
of course, was many thousands of
years in th making, but there is
definite evidence that the process
continually goes on with the clay
that is uncovered from year to year
by rains and erosion.
Tli? old Bivins Building was also
Constructed of native stone that,
In all likelihood, was formed from
the clay deposited by the sea so
long ago.
Next comes the Triassic system,
which was composed mostly of red
sandstone and variegated shale.
Instrumental in the development:
of six additions to Amarillo, Tom W.
Cotten Company has been In busl-
During this period amphibians de- i l°r "ra!2y( a sc"re nf yrars'
clined and the smaller mammals. " C°|Tlpanv *'"h
which we have already encountered ™ Amarillo Building,
skulking in the protective under- ^ a YnT J f bus mess,
brush, flourished to some extent. ! for others on
Vegetation was scarce in this sys- ?°ml^ion, building and develop-
tem.
Following the Triassic is the
Tertiary period, during which the
fossilized remains of mammals were
deposited in Potter County. Geo-
graphic changes were widespread
during this era and the Cordilleran
chain of mountains, of which the
Rockies are a part, was formed.
The dominant life was mammalian
and the huge reptiles had disap-
peared. Some of the smaller mam-
mals had distinctly modern coun-
terparts. It was probably during
this period that the sea receded,
never to reappear. In Potter
County it left behind beds of sand
and gravel which now are more or
less firmly cemented, and beds of
sand not so consolidated with a
thin layer of limestone at the top.
It Is tn this bed that the majority
of vertebrates are found.
The Quarternary system dates
ing its own properties.
When Mr. Cotten rame to Ama-
rillo he was connected with the
Amarillo National Bank, but in 1919
he started his own company.
Summers Addition, Country Club
District, Roberts Place. Edgefield,
the Odom-Cotten industrial subdi-
vision and Country Club Terrace
were developed by Tom W. Cotten
Company.
Extraordinary enhancement of
real estate values is Amarlllo's busi-
ness barometer.
"Amarillo's phenomenal growth Is
refleeted in property values," said
Mr. Cotten, who cited a lot on Sixth
Avenue In San Jacinto that sold
for $275 and later—within less than
10 years—was re-sold for $10,000.
Tom Cotten always has been act-
ive in civic affairs of Amarillo
Today he is an aviation enthusiast
and is chairman of the chamber of
commei :<■ aeronautical committee.
He also has served as president of
from the end of the Tertiary to
the present, time. Geologists use I the Board of City Development and
the term Cenezoic to denote both j has been a leader In the develop-
the Tertiary and Quartenary sys- I ment of Amarillo.
A. M. KIRKPATRICK
10 YEARS WITH
RIPLEY SHIRT MFG. CO.
"OWL BRAND SHIRTS"
DALLAS, TEXAS
Shirts marie tn your measure —
the way you like them—
for neater personal appearance and Innzrr wear.
Fnrm-FiHinfr - • • Soft or "Trubenizrri" f oliar*
PHONE 6858 AMARILLO, TEXAS
ail1
us
as
Ml
4mm"
mm
FRANK WILKINSON'S
GULF STATION
Fifty years «qo would have had no place In the
needi of lusty, young, new-born Potter County. Today
it erve a vital need dally to hundreds of Potter
County s citiiens in every walk c.f life . . . representing
it does the last word in Automobile Filling Station
Service ... in modern equipment, beauty of construc-
tion, convenience of location, eieaniiness, courtesy,
variety of service and superiority of products.
SftO WEST ISTH ST.
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32 Years Aqo
We were building railroad section houses in Pennsylvania when the rail-
roads were in their heydey of construction. Before ihe auto was in popular use
we were building livery stables.
Fifteen years ago we built Station KOA at Denver. Recently, the KGNC
building pictured above was one of our jobs in this fast, modern age.
It has been our happy privilege to work at this fascinating job of building
for many years and in many places.
A finished building represents to us the dreams, the hparts, the flesh, and
the souls of many men. It is something of which we try always to be justifiably
proud.
C. S. Lambie and Co.
Amarillo - - - Builders
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Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938, newspaper, August 14, 1938; Amarillo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299921/m1/52/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Library, Borger Branch.